"Strange... what's different?"
Mio squinted and carefully observed the classroom. But sitting in the back row, she could basically only see her classmates' backs. After a thorough scan, she still couldn't pinpoint anything unusual.
Plus, her wandering gaze had caught the attention of this period's teacher, Hiratsuka-sensei.
Though they were fairly close in private, seeing Mio not paying attention in class, Hiratsuka-sensei showed no mercy and called on her to answer a question.
What surprised Hiratsuka-sensei was that even though Mio clearly hadn't been listening, she answered perfectly.
"Correct. Stop looking around during class."
"Oh."
Hiratsuka-sensei's warning was effective. After sitting back down, Mio immediately became more focused, shifting her attention to memorizing the textbook.
For Mio, who now had [Shiina Mashiro's Eidetic Memory] upgraded four times, it only took two or three days to memorize an entire textbook.
If she'd had this kind of memory before transmigrating, she could've gotten into Tokyo University or any top school, no problem.
But that was just wishful thinking.
The first period ended quickly. As the bell rang, Mio closed her textbook and turned her attention back to scanning the classroom.
"Mio, what are you looking at?" Yui walked over, curious.
"Nothing really, just wondering if there's anyone in our class I don't know yet."
Hearing this, Yui helpfully began assisting. "From left to right in the first row, there's..."
She went through the first row, second row, third row... then suddenly stopped at the fourth row.
Looking at the short-haired girl in the fourth row by the window, Yui thought for a moment, then said uncertainly, "That girl's name is... Kana...e? Or is it Katou Megumi?"
Strange. Unlike Mio who was a transfer student, Yui had been in this class since the first semester. She should have memorized everyone's names by now. Why couldn't she remember anything about this short-haired girl?
While Yui was puzzling over this, Mio finally understood what was different.
She'd been thinking that since both Eriri and Kasumigaoka Utaha had appeared at this school, Katou Megumi should be here too.
But she'd never specifically gone looking for her. After all, once she became aware of someone's existence, if that person was a main heroine from Saekano, they would definitely appear on the system panel.
Having more people on the panel could effectively dilute the conquest rating growth of others, but Mio had always felt that Katou Megumi's tasks would be no easier than Yukinoshita Haruno's.
Especially after task difficulty increased.
What Mio hadn't expected was that Katou Megumi had been in her class this whole time, and she'd gone this long without noticing.
She felt like she must have interacted with Megumi multiple times by now, but just... hadn't paid attention.
The moment Mio noticed Katou Megumi, the system's voice rang in her ears: "Host finally discovered Katou Megumi's existence! Congratulations~ You know, you've interacted with her so many times before without noticing. I was dying of frustration over here."
"Then why don't you just die?"
"I absolutely refuse to die before you become someone's girlfriend, Host. Don't you worry~"
"Tch."
"Please find a way to make Katou Megumi approach you and initiate conversation before morning classes end. If you speak to her first before completing the task, the task will be considered failed. Success may reward you with a Katou Megumi series card or item. Failure will require drawing a punishment card."
"Good luck, Host~"
Mio's attention wasn't on the newly assigned task, but on Katou Megumi's conquest rating—it started at 5 points.
She figured it was because before transmigrating, Katou Megumi had been her waifu for quite a while. That must be why.
While Mio was lost in thought, Yui suddenly spoke up. "Mio, I remember now! That girl is Katou Megumi!"
"Yeah, I just remembered too."
"It's so weird. We've been together for so long, but I couldn't recall her name for a moment there." Yui twirled a strand of her hair, embarrassed.
"It happens. Sometimes with people you're familiar with, their name just slips your mind."
As she spoke, Mio glanced at her phone. Less than a minute until class started—she'd have to wait until after the next period to complete the task.
Fortunately, Megumi's conquest rating was still low, so task difficulty wasn't high. She just needed to get Megumi to approach her and start a conversation. There weren't even restrictions on what the conversation had to be about. For Mio, this wasn't hard.
The next class period flew by as Mio focused on studying.
When the bell rang and the teacher dismissed them, Mio stood up. She could see Katou Megumi had taken out her phone and was looking at something.
But Mio didn't pay it any mind. She pulled out a keychain she'd prepared earlier and headed toward where Megumi was sitting.
Of course, Mio couldn't just walk up to Megumi directly. Instead, as she passed by her seat, she casually dropped the keychain on the floor and prepared to keep walking past without noticing.
But just then, Tobe's voice suddenly rang out: "Shirai, you dropped your keys!"
"Thanks." Mio turned around with what she hoped was a pleasant smile and thanked Tobe, then picked up the keys.
"No problem, I just happened to see it." Tobe flashed a bright smile, but then he felt an inexplicable chill. Was it his imagination, or had Shirai's eyes just looked... kind of terrifying? It reminded him of the female ghost from the horror movie he'd watched over the weekend.
"Tobe, what's wrong?" Hayama Hayato asked, noticing Tobe had gone quiet.
"Nothing, did you just... think Shirai's eyes looked scary?"
"Shirai? Scary eyes?"
Hayama hadn't been paying attention to Mio just now, but he couldn't imagine connecting Shirai Mio with the word "scary." He smiled. "I think you've been watching too many horror movies."
"Maybe... yeah."
...